


Apart from the Ocean

by Estirose



Category: Kamen Rider Kiva
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-29
Updated: 2013-03-28
Packaged: 2017-12-06 20:03:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/739575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aya discovers that the monsters don't think like humans. "Boxed In" universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is set primarily in the "Boxed In" AU, though Aya wasn't originally part of that. Kuramae Noboru is an au of his canon self.

Shinoda Aya met Kurimae Noboru when he’d stopped her outside the room where she’d just given a lecture about mythical creatures. She had begun researching and talking about mythical creatures ever since she’d met her father, and started learning how dangerous the supposed myths were to humanity. Her lectures were well-attended, not surprising ever since the dimensional portal had opened and the Fangaire had emerged. They were energy vampires, albeit friendly ones that wouldn’t harm a human, and they had captured the imagination of the people of Japan.

They had also existed in her own world, albeit not so friendly. She knew that, but she had resisted lecturing on the Fangaire of her own world, not wanting to get a reputation for saying the sky was falling. After all, different world, different rules. Maybe she’d talk about her own world’s Fangaire after the portal was gone.

Kurimae Noboru had asked her if she was going to give a lecture on the Fangaire that day, and she had told him that she wasn’t. She wasn’t into sensational lectures; she just wanted to arm people with knowledge that there had been, and in some cases, still were creatures out there that ate humans. But she didn’t tell him that; she never told anybody that.

“Did you know the Wolfen, the Mermen, and the Franken all existed at one time on this world?” he’d asked. “The Fangaire too. But they all seem to have died out, as far as I can tell.”

She’d shivered at that, knowing that the Mermen, Franken, and Wolfen still existed, had met the last pureblooded Merman. Left said Merman behind in Tokyo, far away. His presence was washed out by the general feel of the ocean in her mind, but if she’d gone to Tokyo, she could have found him, sought him out. He couldn’t have hidden from her just like she couldn’t hide from him when they were that close. He’d told her about the Wolfen and the Franken and how the Fangaire had nearly killed them off, and then had been killed off themselves.

Kurimae-san, bless his heart, had offered her his jacket, not realizing why she’d shivered. She’d turned it down only because she wasn’t cold.

Now they were regularly seeing each other, talking about myths and legends and modern defenses, debated on whether the other world had those monsters too, and if they had been as friendly as the Fangaire. Sometimes they went to the swimming pool where she still practiced her swimming; he had been amazed to know that at some point in her life, she’d been focused on competing in the Olympics. She’d demurred when he’d asked her why she’d stopped swimming competitively. She could hardly admit that it was because she felt she had an unfair advantage.

When she went outside to swim, went to the ocean, she didn’t invite him along. She doubted he even knew that she loved to swim there, that if her father was right, she needed the ocean just as she needed air to breathe.

They’d gone to the park a few days ago, had a picnic, talked more. She’d fallen asleep on his shoulder, apparently; he’d woken her up when he’d moved. He’d said she was too cute to wake up, so he’d let her sleep.

She wondered if he loved her, or he just liked being with her. She hoped it was just that he liked being with her, because she’d sworn some time ago that she’d never marry, never have children.

Never bring the taint of her father’s bloodline into this world.

* * *

“I’m going up in a few days to see my sister in Otsu, outside of Kyoto,” Kurimae-san said cheerfully as they ate lunch together inside the restaurant. “She’s into the subject of myths and monsters too – you’d like her. Want to come along? She’d love to meet you.”

Aya thought carefully, mentally consulting a map. Kyoto wasn’t on the coast, though she did seem to recall a lake nearby. If she brought salts, then she could save herself from discovering whether she really needed salt water every few days to survive, like her father told her she would.

Before she could answer, he continued, “Maybe we could sneak into that portal, check out that other universe. Wouldn’t it be neat to meet the monsters?”

“Kurimae-san!” she exclaimed, loud enough that some of her fellow diners looked over at her. She moderated her tone. “I have a reputation to maintain. Besides, the Fangaire have come into our universe. We don’t need to get in trouble for beings we could meet.”

He grinned. “I’m joking,” he said. “But my sister’s interested in writing a book on the so-called ‘myths’. You know, she thinks that the Mermen still exist, at least. Or she thinks they did twenty years ago.”

Twenty years ago. What evidence had her father left behind before he disappeared for over twenty years? what evidence could she use to prove eventually that the danger existed, without alarming anyone?

“I’d be interested in knowing how she got to that conclusion,” Aya said. She still taught swimming, so she could rearrange her schedule, assuming her students agreed. It would be nice to get away from that inside pool, that water bounded by cement and full of chlorine.

“Then will you come with me?” he asked, leaning forward.

She nodded. “Yes.” Spending a few days with Kurimae-san didn’t seem so bad. He liked her, she liked him, what could go wrong?

“I’d pack a few days’ worth of clothing,” he said. “Little sis won’t care if you bring a gift if you keep her busy enough.”

Aya made a mental note to do so anyway. It was only polite.

“I like where she lives,” Kurimae-san said. “I think you will too. It’s like you could live there forever.”

She wished she could tell him otherwise. But she only wanted to risk being away from the ocean a few days, and if he was a good person, then he’d respect that.

* * *

Kuramae-san had a car. She’d known that previously, but she never thought he’d drive to his sister’s. “Much more convenient this way,” he’d said. “Plus, I like the scenery better than the train.”

“But we could talk about the scenery on the train,” Aya had objected.

“I like stopping. Seeing the mountains. Choosing my own schedule instead of going by somebody else’s,” he said. “Having my own destiny.”

So, they’d driven across Japan from Hiroshima on their way to Otsu, talking as he drove.

“So, have you ever thought of getting married, having kids?” he asked. She blinked, caught unprepared by the question. She’d never brought it up, and neither had he, of course.

“When I was younger,” she said. “Not nowadays, not when I got into swimming. I didn’t have any time. And when I retired from competitive swimming, I… guess I never thought about it.” She had, of course, a lot. But revealing that would bring up more questions, more probing questions, and she didn’t want to explain why she didn’t want her father to have grandkids.

“It’s too bad,” he said. “You know, when I met you, you seemed so *young* for your age. And so pretty. And you have a brain to match. It seems a shame that you haven’t thought of kids.”

“Competitive swimming does that to you,” Aya told him, hoping that would be the end of the matter. She knew she looked young for her age, one of the things she’d gotten from her father’s side of the family. Something that she’d be living with for a long time, though at least her father would still outlive her by a few centuries. “And as I’ve gotten older, I just really haven’t been interested.” Her father’s attitudes had certainly squashed that fast.

“How do your parents feel about it?” he asked. “Mine want grandkids.” She saw him grin at that, as if he was amused by his parents.

“Mom doesn’t,” she said. “I presume my father does, but I don’t talk to him, so I don’t really know.”

“Where do your parents live?” he asked. “Are they married?”

Aya shook her head. “No. It’s… complicated. Mom lives in Mihara, my father lives in Tokyo. They… don’t get along.” That was the understatement of the year. She hoped that he would never ask to meet her father; he could be easily mistaken for her little brother.

“Oh,” he said, but didn’t say anything more.

She studied the scenery. They were going by a lot of mountains, mountains she’d never been on. She didn’t dare move far from the coast or the sea, not without ample preparation. She might not have liked her father, but she knew he spoke the truth about certain things, and she wasn’t about to risk her health proving him wrong.

They ate lunch from food he’d packed, and she, drowsy, fell asleep in the passenger seat.

* * *

Aya woke up in the ocean.

No, that wasn’t quite right. It was water, and it felt right, not like the chlorinated water of the average swimming pool, and it had salt, but it wasn’t boundless. It was contained. She could tell that without opening her eyes. It was as if somebody had tried to bring the ocean inland.

The real ocean was somewhere miles off to her left, she could tell. She wondered how she got there, if someone was playing a joke. But who would go to the expense to do ocean water? People that weren’t her or her dad wouldn’t know the difference.

She opened her eyes. White ceiling; white walls decorated with a sea motif. She looked down; she was naked. There were restraints at her arms, waist, and legs, under the water, keeping her from drifting further into the water and drowning. Most of the room was under the water, it looked like. She had to wonder, again, who had kidnapped her and why they’d gone to all this fancy expense. Had it been Kuramae-san? Being in his car was the last thing she remembered, after all.

The door to the room slid open, and a smiling woman slipped through and then closed the door behind her. It clicked, as if locking. “Shinoda-san, I’m glad you’re awake.”

“Where am I?” Aya asked. It was a good, logical question. It didn’t answer why she was in the water and didn’t have any clothes on, but she’d start with it.

“Monyou research facility,” the woman said. “Would you like me to undo those restraints? We didn’t want you to drown, and it doesn’t seem like you’re quite adapted for an extended time underwater yet.”

“Yes, and by the way, what am I doing here?” she asked. Her mother had raised her to be polite, after all, and she did want to hear why she had woken up practically up to her neck in seawater.

“It’s because you’re Merman, of course,” the woman told her, as if that was the most mundane thing in the world. Aya couldn’t help but stare as the woman snapped the restraints off. Aya sat up, rubbing her wrists, unable to say anything coherent. The last time anybody had called her a Merman, or at least of the Merman Clan, it was her father in one of those last conversations they’d had before she’d screamed at him to stay out of her life for good. He’d blinked up at her with a wounded expression, the one he was so good at, but she hadn’t cared. “Dry clothes are on the bed.”

Aya picked up the clothes, surprised to find that they were some that she’d packed for the trip. She spotted a dresser across the way from the bed, boxes and her suitcase stacked in front of it. With the woman watching her every move, she quickly and efficently got dressed, sitting down on the bed. The woman pulled a folding chair out from beside the bed. “I’m Dr. Hamagaki,” the woman said. “I’m sure you’re confused.”

“Just slightly,” Aya said, wanting to say more. But she held off. She was sure that the doctor would tell her why she was there in good time.

“To start with, this is not your home universe,” Dr. Hamagaki said. “We Fangaire… we killed off our own Merman Clan, along with two other species, a century or two ago. Monyou research facility was built to try to revive those species, but we haven’t had much success. Either the bloodlines are too weak to produce anything useful, or the bloodline’s disappeared on us. You have quite a bit of Merman DNA, enough to infuse our fading Merman bloodlines. We wish we had a fullblooded Merman, but we haven’t found one in your universe yet. So, it’s up to us, and you, to restart the Merman clan in our universe.”

“You’re Fangaire,” Aya asked. She’d absorbed the rest of Dr. Hamagaki’s words, but she didn’t want to think about what the implications of the last things the woman had said.

Dr. Hamagaki smiled gently, and as Aya watched, her eyes became tinted with rainbow colors, and colors formed a mosaic on her face and neck. And then the efect was gone. Aya had seen the display once, on TV, but now she got to see it in person.

“We’re trying to trace your father now,” Dr. Hamagaki said. “You had an address for your mother in your apartment. Did you know you have some small amount of Merman ancestry from her as well? The majority of your DNA is from your father, of course, but somewhere long ago one of her ancestors was Merman as well.”

Aya personally thought that her mother would be less than thrilled about being of Merman ancestry, given what trouble her father had caused. “If you’re asking if I know where my father lives, I have no clue. Nor do I care. He is fullblooded Merman, though.” She paused. “And wait, you went through my apartment?”

“Not me personally,” Dr. Hamagaki said. “But somebody did when we relocated you here.”

“Relocated?” Aya echoed. She wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that.

“You’re starting a new life here,” Dr. Hamagaki said. “We need you more than anybody in your old universe ever did.”

Aya rather doubted that, given the way her father had reacted when they’d first met, but she decided it was best to keep her mouth shut.

“Feel free to unpack, make your room the way you like it,” Dr. Hamagaki said. “The corridor beyond is secure, and there’s a bathroom clearly marked down the way.” She paused. “And I have someone here to see you.”

Dr. Hamagaki opened the door, slipping out as Kuramae Noboru walked in.  
* * *

Aya’s thoughts were racing as she looked at Kuramae-san. He was wearing different clothes, she noted, and a badge like Dr. Hamagaki’s. With a picture. Before she could quite realize it, her fist was meeting Kuramae-san’s stomach.

The punch had less effect than she expected. “You bastard,” she seethed, annoyed that even with her upper-arm strength, she couldn’t punch him that hard.

“Aya,” he said, and then amended, “Shinoda-san.”

She responded by punching him in the stomach again. She didn’t want to hear his lies, and maybe if she hit him hard enough or often enough, he’d stop talking. “You befriended me to kidnap me?”

“No,” he said, and he gasped a little at a third punch. “I befriended you because I thought you could help me find the monsters you were obsessed about.”

“What?” she said, distracted enough to stop punching him.

“I was down in Hiroshima because I had rumors that there might be a couple of Franken there,” he said. “I ran across your lecture, attended it, met you. Started talking to you. I was delighted to meet someone as into the creatures I was seeking as much as I was. I had a suspicion that you were more than you seemed – confirmed it later – but that’s not why I befriended you.”

Aya could have told him that as far as she knew, the only surviving Franken lived somewhere in Tokyo and knew her father, but she was still furious enough that she wasn’t going to tell him that. Let him chase down the sole Franken by himself, for all she cared. “Suspicion?”

“You look abnormally young for your age,” Kuramae-san said. “Other things that I can’t really articulate. Which way is the ocean, by the way?”

“A few kilometers to the left,” she said automatically, and he smiled. She glared at him. “What?”

“Merman trait,” he said. “You seem to know where the ocean is at all times. Survival trait, actually.” He grinned wider. “I go looking for Franken, and I end up dating the first Merman we’ve come across.”

“You took a car so that you didn’t leave a trail when you took me… wherever you took me. Here. Do you even have a sister?” It was slowly falling into place. The car, her aparment, the boxes in the room. He had taken her out of Hiroshima to kidnap her and give others a chance to scour her apartment and bring her belongings to the research facility.

“Yes. She’s actually the one that was trying to track down the Mermen,” Kuramae-san said. “And she actually does live where I said she lives – she was following a lead on some inland Mermen. She’d be thrilled to meet you.”

“I bet,” she said sourly.

“Your father’s the Merman, right?” Kurimae-san asked. “How old is he? Did he tell you? What does he look like? We’d like to meet him.”

Aya debated on whether to cooperate. They’d taken her against her will, and she was presumably a prisoner there. Dr. Hamagaki had implied that she was going to be a mother whether she wanted to be or not. On the other hand, if she handed her father to them, maybe they’d pay attention to him and let her go. “If I tell you, will I be let go and returned home?”

“I can’t promise that,” he said. “You’re Merman; your Clan is nearly dead, we have to protect the bloodline you carry. But… I know you well enough that I think I can make this easier for you.”

“Easier how?” she asked.

“Well,” he said, “give you relative freedom within the facility. Let you choose who you want to sleep with.”

“I’m not particularly interested in passing on the Merman bloodline,” she said tightly. “I don’t like my father and what he represents.”

Kuramae-san nodded seriously. “I’ll see what I can do. Though getting you free from having kids means we need to find your father – and you may have to become more like what you apparently despise.”

Aya took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to be free. For the moment, at least, though maybe if they got used to her then she could break out. It worked in the movies. And Kuramae-san had a point; if they had her father they had a much better DNA sample there than they had with her. She could deal with the other part later.. “You’re going to pick out one sole young teen out of the city of Tokyo? I’m not sure my father even *has* a fixed address….”

“Young teen,” Kuramae-san said thoughtfully. “So, a century to a century and a half old. Would you be willing to help an artist draw him so we can find him a bit more easily, tell me all you can about him? The sooner you can, the sooner we can start bothering him and less you. Plus, I can push what I can of what you want easier that way.”

“Yes,” Aya said. She didn’t know if he would keep his word, but she hoped he would.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ow," Aya said, annoyed, as a technician finished taking a blood sample. Kuramae-san looked over at her and smiled. She was in a smaller room now, one across the hall from where she had awakened the first day, a reward for giving the Fangaire as much information as she could manage about her father. They weren't going to let her go, so she had to do what she could with what she had, and hope she'd talk them into her freedom one day.

The technician, a human, apologized, bowed, and went away.

"I take it you're going to give my father the room that I was put in, originally?" she asked. Her father would probably love it. There was an underwater passageway connecting that room with another one next to it that was very empty. She liked her new room better, because there was some room to put things and she didn't have to worry about them falling into the water like they had the first day.

Kuramae-san took a sip of water. "The room next to it, actually. I don't know if Dr. Hamagaki's mentioned it to you, but the scientists are pretty sure that you're going to need that room as things go on. They think your body's highly dependent on ocean chemicals, more than what you should, based on what we know of the Merman Clan. They're not sure *why*, but they think it's because you're part human. Something to do with the interaction between your biologies, especially when you hit puberty. From what we know of the Mermen, they were becoming more and more adapted to land. In some ways, you're a throwback to what the Mermen must have been, once."

Aya shivered and listened to the piped-in music. It was soothing, as if they wanted to keep their subjects calm. It was probably the idea, come to think of it.

"I'll bring in my research to show to you," Kuramae-san said. "I'm pretty sure that the original Mermen, at least in our world, came out of the water to hunt human prey. The ones that could spend more time out of the water fed better, so the Merman Clan became more land-based. We're hoping they might have been also less dependent on human life energy, too."

In some ways, Kuramae-san was so much like the man she had known in Hiroshima, the man she could talk to for hours about myths and dangers. And in some other ways, he was a researcher and she was his subject. She had a feeling that while she was still "Aya" in many ways to him, some part of him would always also regard her as a Merman, to be cherished yet held for her own safety and the continuance of her species. "I'd like that," she said. It would be nice to forget she was being held in there for the foreseeable future. It would be nice also to do something she'd grown to love, and not be a subject for somebody, at least for a while.

"Any luck in finding my father?" she asked. She had to admit, she'd rather deal with Kuramae-san than any of the doctors or other researchers. Maybe it was because she'd dealt with him longer, or maybe because he was able to treat her as a person instead of a research subject or a child all the time.

"I've heard that we've got some leads," Kuramae-san said. "My little sister could have told them, however, that Mermen are probably the slipperiest of the three species to catch, no pun intended. I feel lucky that I caught you."

"I've got human blood," Aya pointed out.

"And you were born into a tradition that leaves kids like you to the human parents," he said. "Which seems barbaric when you consider the Fangaire tradition to cherish them."

"The Fangaire have a reason to," Aya pointed out. "The Fangaire need their crossbreeds to survive."

"Touche," Kurimae-san said. "Maybe someday, the Mermen will, too."

* * *

Aya missed her swimming lessons and her students. She had been able to earn enough to live on, though mostly she was there to be near some kind of water. She was able to swim at the facility too, in the saltwater pool in what had once been her room. The researchers had allowed her a computer terminal and given her books so she wouldn't be bored.

Of course, there were the tests. Dr. Hamagaki, who seemed to be either in charge or the face of the reasearch team handling the Mermen, said that they had to get a better idea of what Aya's body was doing. After all, as Dr. Hamagaki had said, her body was changing... and the researchers wanted her to change even more, to become closer to Merman, or at least the ancient Mermen if Kuramae-san's speculations were correct.

There was a chime on her door panel. She'd put a privacy indicator on it, the best she could do since she couldn't really lock her door, and the doctors and technicians had always respected it. "Come in," she called, and the door slid open after a moment, revealing Kuramae-san.

He was beaming, and walked into the room briskly, taking a chair. "We found them, Shinoda-san!"

"'We' found who, Kuramae-san?" she asked. Had they found the Tokyo monsters, including her father?

"You remember that information you gave?" Kuramae-san asked. "We not only traced down your father, but a Wolfen, a Franken, and two half-wolfen children. We're getting them to the facility shortly. Soon we'll be able to confirm if there are any others that survived your world's massacres. And after some initial exams, we'll be able to settle them all down here. If you see any activity, it's just to get ready for your father."

"Great," she said, realizing that her father would soon be in proximity to her, close proximity, and this time she wouldn't have the ability to get away from him because they'd both be held at the research facility.

"Shinoda-san, are you all right?" Kuramae-san said, sounding concerned.

"I just realized I have to deal with my father," Aya said. "I never wanted to deal with my father ever again."

Kuramae-san frowned. "I'd forgotten that. I think it's better for you if you don't have to deal with him."

"He's a water creature, you told me that these are the only water-based rooms in the facility, where else would you put him?"

"He should be far less dependent on the water than you are," Kurimae-san pointed out. "He can live somewhere else."

Aya nodded. It made perfect sense. And if Kurimae-san could convince Dr. Hamagaki to keep her father far, far away from her, so much the better.

"Would that make you happier?" Kuramae-san said.

"I can live with that," she said. "I'd rather not be here, period, but I know that if my father and I get together, we'll fight."

"I'm surprised you haven't fought us more," Kuramae-san said. "What did your father say or do that was so bad?"

"I... think it's easier to fight a person than a group," Aya said, painfully aware that she was a captive there. But she didn't have a way to get out of her hallway, and they had restraints, and it made much more sense to talk her way out than argue with them. Her father, on the other hand, had not been able to hold her, and she'd been able to escape. "My father thought I should be more Merman. I told him that there was no way that I was going to be the member of a species that thought of humans as lesser beings. Plus, I... mom wasn't willing when my father had sex with her, when I was conceived." That was a delicate way to put it, almost too delicate. But Kuramae-san was still a guy.

"The Fangaire here consider humans a lesser species, and most humans don't seem to care," Kuramae-san pointed out. "Only the hunters do, and they're considered odd by most sane people."

"Would a Fangaire rape a human?" Aya asked. "Because that's what got me. He was so disrespectful of my mother and her wishes, and he wanted me to be like him. I said no."

"No," Kuramae-san said. "Why would they? Plenty of willing humans out there. No need to go for someone who doesn't want you." He looked over at her. "That's what bothers you about him?"

"Mermen don't have an interest in their half-human kids unless there's a very good reason," Aya said bitterly, aware that he knew that fact. "My mom being raped wasn't unique, it was just that my father came back for me. I would have rather lived in ignorance than be part of a culture that says my Father has the right to have sex with my mom just because he's Merman and she's human. I have a feeling I wouldn't get along too well with the Fangaire, either."

"You get along with Dr. Hamagaki," Kuramae-san said, leaning forward, his expression serious.

"That's because I have no choice," Aya replied. "Plus, I don't think I'm a lesser being to the Fangaire – just one of the few members of a endangered intelligent species that they're trying to revive. I'm a lab animal, just one that's treated politely because my ancestors could kill just as well as hers could."

"You're not a lab animal," Kuramae-san argued. "You're a protected species. You're held here because the Fangaire care what happens to you. If anything, you're a child that needs protecting and nuturing because you haven't become all that you could be."

"My father is relatively younger than I am, and Dr. Hamagaki's planning to breed him anyway," Aya said. "What does she think he's going to do, cooperate?"

"That's what she's hoping for," Kuramae-san said. "All three of the fullbloods, in fact. She's waited for this to happen for so long...."

"And what if we don't cooperate? Will she force the bunch of us, then?" Aya asked.

Kuramae-san looked at her with troubled eyes.

* * *

She was left alone, for the most part. At least for the last week, as the doctors seemed to be concentrating on their new arrivals. She knew that the group the Fangaire and their agents had arrived, because there was the familiar ocean-feeling of her father. That, or they'd moved the ocean or the facility, which she rather doubted. There had been technicians working on the two water rooms, so she guessed she was going to have to deal with her father, Kuramae-san's objections or no.

“Shinoda-san,” Kuramae-san called cheerfully from the doorway. “How do you feel like taking a little trip?”

“A little trip?” she asked. “What, to another facility?” Were they planning on moving her, now that it was clear that they weren't breeding her right off?

“Well,” Kuramae-san said, “I was actually thinking, since it's a holiday, that you should get to celebrate too. You'll have to wear a locator anklet, of course, but I thought you might enjoy some fresh air.”

“Bosses afraid I'll run?” Aya asked.

“Well, yes, towards the nearest ocean,” Kuramae-san said. “It's for your own safety. I mean, a lot of our staff lives in nearby villages and towns and could probably recognize you, but nobody wants to lose you. Plus, there's always the possibility – remote though it is – that someone who knows what you look like will want to hold you to sire a child on you. There are humans – people – that are very devoted to the continuation of the non-human intelligent species.”

“Your world is *weird*,” Aya said. “Do the Fangaire have this problem too?”

Kuramae-san nodded. “To some extent, though there's more social stigma to trying that with a Fangaire. You and the other crossbreeds are the most vulnerable, too – your fathers can at least defend themselves, you can't.”

“And if somebody decides that they want to get at me while we're out?” Aya asked.

Shrugging, Kuramae-san said, “I'd defend you. With my life. So, do you want to go out?”

Aya looked at him, and at the hallway. “I'd love to.” After all, it could be practice on how to get out of there and how to get home eventually. “Just you and me?”

Kuramae-san nodded. “Dr. Hamagaki believes you can be trusted more than the new arrivals – we're being cautious about losing our fullbloods. You're hardly going to run on me, and if you do, well, there are things that Dr. Hamagaki can do. Among other things, not let you leave the complex again unless you're well-sedated.”

“I think I can behave myself,” Aya said. At least she would until she had a genuine chance of freedom, which wasn't going to happen there. The Fangaire and their researchers were still too sensitive to losing one of their precious specimens. “Find me that locator anklet so we can go out.”

He smiled. “As you wish.”

* * *

Kuramae-san took her out into the gardens outside the research facility after the technicians fitted her with a GPS locator anklet. There was a picnic table there, and he put the picnic basket on the table, smiling all the while. “We won't be disturbed here,” he said, “Though if something happens, there's a manual alarm button on your locator anklet to summon security.”

Which meant if he was more presumptuous than she thought he was, she could get some help for herself, too. Good to know, and not only for that purpose. It was something she could work into her plan for escaping in the future, when they relaxed their collective guards. In the meantime, it was like a vacation from the facility, at least.

They ate, and she enjoyed breathing fresh air. She thought of how much she had taken being outdoors for granted when she'd lived in Hiroshima and Tokyo. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and thought of how nice it would be to swim in the actual ocean once more. The water in her little 'pool' was okay, but it had more boundaries than the ocean did. She felt the same way about swimming pools, she realized, though the pool in the facility was more welcome because the water was pure, more or less.

She opened her eyes. “Thinking of the ocean?” Kuramae-san asked gently.

“I think I always do,” Aya admitted.

“You're a Merman; you should,” Kuramae-san said.

“Half-human,” Aya corrected. “Raised human.”

“Raised human, less than half,” Kuramae-san corrected her. “What do you think of the Fangaire?”

Aya blinked at the change in subject. “I've only ever met one Fangaire,” she said. “Dr. Hamagaki. I'm hardly going to judge the actions of an entire species on a medical doctor who's got me captive.”

“Why not?” Kuramae-san said. “You judged your father's species on the strength of knowing your teenaged father.”

“One hundred twenty something is not a teenager to me,” Aya said.

“It is by Merman standards,” Kuramae-san said. “You're letting your personal experience get in the way of what you know by your research.”

Aya took a deep breath. “My research doesn't paint them in a much more positive light,” she said. “These are people who abandoned their kids because they were half a 'lesser' species."

Kuramae-san shifted uncomfortably. "Somewhere along the way, we'll have to fix that."

"In the meantime," Aya said, "I don't have anything on this world's Fangaire, but I do on my world's Merman Clan. And I do know that it's a culture that would have considered me a lesser being. In fact, considered me a human. Which I don't have a problem with, but it's the same attitude which told my father it's okay to rape my mother. What you guys don't seem to get is that I don't want to continue either the Merman Clan or the Merman cultural tradition. I want to go back to being Aya again."

"Aya... Shinoda-san... we don't want to continue the cultural traditions of either our Merman Clan or yours," Kuramae-san said. "We want your bloodlines. We want to start a new Merman Clan, one that has greater respect for humans and doesn't kill them."

"I don't care, I don't want to be a mother," Aya said, staring at him and hoping he'd get the message. "Besides, you have my father."

"But we don't have your mother," Kuramae-san said. "We don't have your mother's genes, except through you."

"My mother would be excessively happy not to become a grandmother, especially if she knew about the fact she has Merman lineage. That's how badly encountering my father scarred her." She wondered if he ever would get it, if the researchers in the place would ever get that there was no way in hell that she was willing to have a child. They might force a child on her, but she would not willingly carry it.

"Oh," Kuramae-san said, sounding disconcerted. Maybe he was getting the message, finally. "Your encounter with your father, then...."

"Damaged me, and damaged my mother," Aya said firmly. "My mother probably should have aborted me, I don't know why she didn't, but she didn't. And it gave her a lifetime of pain. She didn't tell me what had happened until we met my father again, she wanted to shield me from the truth." Aya looked towards the ocean. "And then my father showed up, wanting to make me leave the human world for his own, and I couldn't stand it. To carry a child, knowing its heritage... I couldn't do that."

"Shinoda-san," Kuramae-san said. "Your goals and ours are in some ways the same; we want the Merman Clan to be able to live among humans, to be as beloved as the Fangaire. We want to spare future generations the same trauma you and your mother went through."

"I'm already damaged," Aya said. "Send me home."

"Shinoda-san," Kuramae-san said patiently. "You are not damaged - at least as much as you think. We here see you as a beautiful being who doesn't see her own beauty. You might not have any children - and I'll get through to Dr. Hamagaki that you shouldn't - but you know what the Merman Clan did, and what it was capable of doing. What it did wrong. If we could fix some things like your lifespan, you could be there to teach future generations how not to do things."

"That would make me more Merman," Aya said flatly.

"That would make you more *you*," Kuramae-san said. "Somebody should set things right. Why shouldn't it be you? Maybe that's what you were born to do."

Aya rather doubted it, but said nothing.

When she and Kuramae-san returned to her little corridor, she could feel her father nearby. They must have allowed her and Kuramae-san outside in order to put her father in. Made perfect sense. She wondered if her father had explored the place yet.

If he had, he'd probably discovered her room. She shivered. One of the things that the facility's agents had recovered was a picture of herself and her mother, in a picture frame, which she'd set up on her dresser. One look at that, and he'd know who was there, if he couldn't tell anyway.

"He's here," she said to Kuramae-san. "Did you know?"

"At the facility? Yes," Kuramae-san said. "That they were planning to move him? Yes. I tried to keep him out of here, though."

"He's *here*," she said. She concentrated, feeling the ocean within. "In my room."

"Impressive," Kuramae-san breathed. "You can pinpoint him that accurately?"

"Yes," she said absently. "He's close."

"I'll ask my sister about that," he said. "Want support?"

Aya thought about that. Kuramae-san had been helpful - for a guy who worked for the people holding her captive. And she really didn't want to deal with her father, much less alone. "Yes, please."

Besides, she might be incensed enough that he might need to rescue her father, instead.

She slid the door open to her room. Her father was there, wearing a white t-shirt and white drawstring pants, looking at one of her books. She hadn't thought he was into reading. Probably knew how to read, though. But then again, she didn't know much about him, other than what he had told her in their brief talks.

That reminded her of what she and Kuramae-san had talked about, how she seemed more willing to be neutral with her Fangaire captor than she was with her father.

"Aya!" Her father put the book down sloppily, and Aya winced.

"Father," she said, "More respect for the books, please." He was still the thirteen year old she remembered from two years before, still energetic and clueless.

Her father cast a glance at Kuramae-san, an unsure one that made her wonder if bringing him was a good idea. On the other hand, she was sure that he'd keep her from strangling her father. "Who's this?"

"I'm Kuramae Noboru," Kuramae-san said. "I'm a researcher at this facility."

"Oh," her father said in response, not bothering to introduce himself. Come to think of it, he'd never even given her a name. He probably had one, though.

"I don't suppose you've ever been out in human society enough to choose a name?" Kuramae-san asked.

Her father smiled. "Ramon," he said. It wasn't a particularly Japanese name, Aya thought, and wondered where he'd picked it up.

"Kuramae-san and I dated before he... well, I arrived here," Aya said, continuing with Kuramae-san's unintended fiction. If Kuramae-san thought they were dating, she might as well use it for something useful.

Kuramae-san beamed. She wished she had the heart to tell him that they weren't. Besides, he still thought that her becoming more Merman was a good thing. Did he secretly harbor a desire to have quarter-Merman children that she'd just recently squashed?

"Ramon-san," Kuramae-san said, surprisingly using a honorific off of her father's first - well, probably only - name. "Are you comfortable here?"

"Why not?" her father said cheerfully. "I have water, and all the human women that I want."

In other words, Aya thought grimly, she would have half-brothers and half-sisters to look forward to - or not - shortly. But at least once he started his 'mating' in earnest, he should hopefully ignore her. Which was exactly what she wanted.


	3. Chapter 3

More often than not, when her father was not in his side of the pool attempting to father children on some human woman or other, he was in Aya's room, despite her protestations. The lack of door lock, which had been only a minor annoyance when she'd only had to deal with Dr. Hamagaki and her technicians, had become a point of stress. She realized there was not much for him to do in his own room, but it didn't mean he could invade her privacy instead.

Of course, by Merman standards, being his daughter meant that he could do exactly that. From her studies of both worlds, privacy was pretty non-existant in Merman society at best. It really didn't matter if she was dressing or what - and he had walked in while she was naked once or twice.

And he didn't sleep, either, and she did, which meant that she could find him playing around on the computer at any hour. Or she'd woken up with him cuddled next to her - which would have been cute had he not been her father.

Once, she'd even woken up across the way, halfway into the water, with her father sitting there, having decided she didn't get in the water enough. She needed to have a heart-to-heart talk with him, but she kept putting it off.

By Merman standards, she was a human. If she'd been fullblood... well, if she'd been fullblood she'd still be in the Merman equivalent of diapers, to be sure. But if she'd been nearly into her second century, she'd be having her first kids. That's how Merman society worked. There were some roles that didn't require motherhood, but her father had been correct; if she had been the Merman equivalent of twenty, she should have started reproducing. And if Kuramae-san's sister's research had been correct, the Merman Clan hadn't believed in marriage. She'd have ended up having a child fathered by whoever reached her when she was in heat.

All the good reason not to go into heat, or into the water other than what she was required to do for her body. The scientists had given her the amount of time they thought was optimum for her body, and she didn't intend to be in there any more than she had to.

"We should go and see the others," her father said.

"Others?" she asked. She remembered that there had been a Franken and a Wolfen and their kids, but she didn't know he'd been in contact with them. She'd assumed they'd split the three fullbloods apart and examined them.

"They have a room here," her father said. "It's nice, it lets us get together. And it has windows!"

"But not an ocean," she said. "We've traded freedom for stability. We're bound in here." At least she hadn't chosen captivity, her father apparently had.

Her father frowned. "We will get out of here, Aya," he said, certainty in his tone. Aya blinked at him. "But we'll use the Fangaire first to restart our kind."

"They'll never let us go," she said.

Her father took her hands, and looked at her with deep, dark eyes. He was silent, but she understood the look, somehow. Her father wanted to be at the facility as much as she did. He just wasn't beyond using people to get his way.

After all, that's what he'd done to her mother.

"What about the Wolfen and the Franken?" she asked.

Her father shrugged. "We'll all leave together and make our homes here. Hey, at least these people won't kill us on sight!"

She wondered if he realized that the Fangaire were only accepted because they didn't kill humans. That was the gist of what she'd read, anyway.

"No, they'll just breed us to pieces," she muttered.

* * *

Kuramae-san had found occasion to take her outside again, which she was very grateful for. It got her away from the limited area she was allowed in, and best of all, away from her father. Her father had implied that they'd both be given access to another set of rooms, but that hadn't materialized yet, and Aya only cared if it gave her more room to roam.

And this, at least, gave her fresh air and the opportunity to get them used to her going out, not knowing that someday she'd knock Kuramae-san unconscious and get the hell out of there. Or something like that. She'd have to do it after she got a good idea of the security and things like that. It would be nice to know if she needed to scale any fences.

But at the moment, she was Aya, the most trusted of their 'guests', despite her father's bold proclamation in her room - surely monitored - that he had plans to escape. She was the good girl, after all.

"I think I know what you are," he said, after they ate. "You're a Okoi-hatsuoki. You have a keen awareness of all of your 'tribe' - which admittedly is you and your father, but still...."

"Okoi-hatsuoki." She tried to recall that term. "A type of tribal guardian, correct?"

"Right - a female guardian that didn't have children, because the entire tribe was her children," Kuramae-san said. "That could explain why you haven't gone into heat - Okoi-hatsuoki weren't very fertile, we think it's a side effect of the genes that give you your semi-telepathic abilities that allow you to keep track of said 'tribe'. Keep a mental eye on them, if you will."

Aya nodded, recalling the name but not the specifics. Plus, they could be different in the world she was in than the world she was from. Or maybe she had read the term in one of this world's books. They seemed to have more documentation on the Merman Clan.

"I talked it over with Dr. Hamagaki," Kuramae-san said, "And she thinks - as I do - that the best course of action for you is to lengthen your lifespan. Gills would be good, too, but you're going to have to live long enough to be a true Okoi-hatsuoki."

Sighing in resignation, Aya asked, "And does anybody have any clue on how to do that?"

"Two accounts in our own books, one in your world's history," Kuramae-san said. "All about crossbreeds like yourself. One of the accounts looks like it's similar to the process the Fangaire use to change the Fandiri - the half-Fangaire - into Fangaire, so Dr. Hamagaki thinks that's the one she's going to try first."

"Ah," Aya said. "And that involves....?"

He shrugged. "Ask Dr. Hamagaki. I don't know."

"You. Don't know." Kuramae-san not knowing seemed ridiculous to Aya.

"I... I teach myself these things because of you, but I was really hired on to help with the Franken," he reminded her.

"And how *are* things going with the Franken?" Aya asked. It was his field of study, after all, and it would save her from having to talk about the future of the Merman Clan.

"A bit slow," Kuramae-san admitted. "You're talking about a species where you can ask a question, and you *might* get an answer within an hour, depending on how complex it is. We have barely any information about how well they interbreed with humans, and both of the stories we have both involve female Franken. So, we don't know if Franken can breed with humans, how hard it is, and how willing they are to do so. I have a feeling that it's going to involve artificial insemination, though with our Franken's consent as possible. There's just a lot of 'ifs' there, and so I won't be unemployed any time soon."

Aya nodded, letting Kuramae-san talk.

"At least I'm not one of the ones working with the Wolfen - apparently the father wants to raise any kids he fathers, and he doesn't get that it's not going to happen. In terms of easy to work with, you and your father are the best we've got right now, even if your father thinks he and the others are going to escape. At least you have sense."

That confirmed her fears that what her father had said was monitored, and cursed him internally for putting her own plan in danger. "I don't like being here, but... I've got no choice, have I? I'm an endangered species."

Kuramae-san smiled at her. "You are," he said. "A beautiful one."

"The pool is too small." She'd complained about it before, it was safe to complain about that.

"I know," he said. "I'm sorry." He looked genuinely like he was sorry, like he was sorry she was stuck there. "But it's all for the greater good."

"So, what are you going to do with the Wolfen and his kids?" she asked. "He had two, right?"

"One," Kuramae-san corrected.

"One?" Aya asked. "I thought you said two." She thought she'd have some more human company. Too bad.

"Some bright person, whose name I shall not mention," Kuramae-san said, "Couldn't tell the difference between a half-*Wolfen* and a half-*Fangaire*. Dr. Hamagaki had to make sure that child was fostered off to the correct species. So we only have one, unfortunately. The Fangaire are not endangered, unless you ask certain of their more rabid supporters.."

"Ah," she said, deciding to stay neutral on that issue and just listen to what he had to say about the Wolfen that had been caught up in their sweep.

"But going back to the Wolfen," Kuramae-san said, "Dr. Hamagaki's still deciding. If needs be, we'll make him a father involuntarily, because the whole idea is to raise Wolfen who don't feel the need to kill those they feed off of. "

"That's not much better than what my father did to my mother when he raped her to continue his species," Aya argued. "Are you sure the Fangaire are as good as you think they are?"

"Saving the species, making it acceptable to humankind, that's more important than what individuals think," Kuramae-san said. "I mean, we'd love to release him, but that's not possible. We have too many Wolfen bloodlines hiding out in extremist and non-extremist hunter groups anyway, he'd just add to them if given a chance. We need him to father kids that those sympathetic to the Fangaire can raise. Of the three Clans, we have the most information on the Wolfen, and we can induce Wolfen traits the easiest. In fact, they're our best bet when it comes to species revival. But not if they insist on clinging to the old ways."

"Just like you don't want my father raising his kids, and how you didn't want me in contact with him," Aya realized. Was it best to let those cultures die out, or should she be paying more attention to her father?

The disturbing thing was, it made sense to pay attention to her father, no matter how disturbing it might be. She was not going to be the puppet of the Fangaire.

"Well, it's better for you," Kuramae-san said. "You know better."

And Aya could honestly - though she didn't - say that she did.

* * *

Aya was still disturbed a few days after her talk with Kuramae-san, but had so far managed to hide it. In the meantime, she'd been fitted with a bracelet that allowed her access to a few more areas, or would when she finished her current treatment. Her father, on the other hand, flitted from their corridor to where the rest of the endangereds were allowed to gather and back.

In the meantime, she was restricted to the same corridor, festooned with monitors. From what Dr. Hamagaki had told her, they were finetuning her system, making her body temperature drop, lowering her dependence on oxygen. She had started needing less oxygen than most humans at some point in her life, but the scientists and technicians were trying to get her body to need even less. Once that was good, they'd induce her body to grow gills and her lungs to work with the gills, making them dual purpose so that she could breathe both air and water. All of these changes were possible, Dr. Hamagaki had told her, because she had the genes and the basics to make it happen. She would have been a little less anxious and careful, however, if it wasn't entirely experimental.

The door chimed, and she called, "Come in." It wasn't her father; for one, he was a distance away from her, wherever he was allowed to roam.

Kuramae-san came in with an armful of books. Three, to be exact. She smiled, partly delighted that he'd brought the books and partly to hide the fact that she had been put off by his attitude that forcing parenthood on the unwilling Wolfen of her father's acquaintance was a good thing.

"I couldn't get my sister's hands off of her copies," he said as he put the books down on her table. "But here's the books she recommended on Merman culture. Now, one of them's actually on freshwater - that's lake - merman tribes, but my sister thought that it would be useful to you anyway. She says the other two are also good in general, but you'll get the most information about what you are from the freshwater volume. The other two have some interesting stories - I think you mentioned you were interested."

"Just because you're trying to establish a new Merman culture doesn't mean that everything should be thrown out," Aya said. "There are stories that I've read online that are quite beautiful and I'd like to pass on someday." Once she was free and she could gather her own tribe. "Stories about the beauty and glory of the ocean, mostly."

He smiled. "It figures you're drawn to that kind of thing."

She was drawn to the other tales that she had read, but she wasn't going to tell him that. He'd been quite correct when he'd pointed out that she'd judged her father's kind by her father, but was giving the species of her captors the benefit of the doubt. She was going to be railroaded one way or another into being a Merman, she might as well learn what she was supposed to be. Or, if the Fangaire had their way, what was to be wiped out and improved upon.

Her father came closer in her awareness, but she kept her attention on Kuramae-san and his books. "The Merman world isn't all death and destruction."

"No, it isn't," Kuramae-san said. "But it is going to have to grow out of some things, and sometimes it's best to start as new as possible. You're ideal; you're going to know where things went wrong, and you can make things right. And I trust you to keep the beauty there, too."

She smiled at that. "Someday, I hope to." Just maybe not as they had planned. And she didn't plan to live for centuries on end like the Fangaire wanted her to. But maybe her great-nieces and great-nephews would continue on for her.

Aya's door slid open, and she looked up briefly. Just her father. She couldn't sense anything else, just the only other Merman in the complex. But she still checked. "I'll leave you to your books," he said, smiling more. "Enjoy."

Her father sat down on her bed, despite the chair nearby. "Father," she said, "I can sense you halfway across Tokyo, you don't have to sit right next to me."

"I can't do that," her father admitted. "Hey! I wonder if you're a Okoi-hatsuoki?"

She shrugged. "Kuramae-san and the research team think so."

His smile brightened. "The new Clan's first one!" He frowned. "You're going to have to break up with your boyfriend, though, Okoi-hatsuoki don't have boyfriends."

"Boyfriends are a human concept," she pointed out.

He nodded rapidly. "Can you use him to get us out of here first, though?" he said, nodding in the direction of where Kuramae-san had gone.

"Father!" she exclaimed. Did he have no sense? Couldn't he figure out that they were being watched? "I can't do that to Kuramae-san. He doesn't deserve it." At least Kuramae-san would have a nice big shock when she used him to get out of there herself. As would most of the staff. Their good girl would surprise them when they least expected it. "Besides, I'm in the middle of medical treatment. I'd like to survive it, thanks."

She looked at her hands. She wondered if they'd become webbed. Probably not, the current project was aimed at getting her to breathe water, not swim better that way. And she'd best not give them any ideas. Theirs were experimental enough as it was.

"Becoming more Merman is good," her father said. "But it's the Fangaire. They're a bad influence."

She sighed, wanting to agree with him, but aware that she had to conform. She had to conform, to save herself, to be Aya again.

Even if that Aya wasn't human anymore.

* * *

Aya rubbed a finger against her neck, looking at the mirror. She could easily see growing long hair; there was a faint outline of the gills, enough that people would look twice at her. It was almost like having a few small, red lines on each side of her neck.

But she did breathe better in the water. And she had to breathe air even less, an advantage when she finally ran away.

Because of her treatment, she hadn't been allowed outside; Kuramae-san had promised he'd remedy that, bring back one of the joys in her life. She knew she'd have to plan what she said carefully while probing for security details, security weaknesses that would get her out of there. The researchers would probably have their guard lowered anyway - it wasn't like she ever caused any problems intentionally.

In the meantime, it was past time to meet the other "endangered" people, or at least that's what her father had urged. She only liked the idea because it gave her access to roam a little more. She could pinpoint where her father was at all times; he couldn't do the same for her, so she could escape him every so often.

And she couldn't remain buried in those thick volumes of Merman folklore and tales forever. Even if she was memorizing them for future use. Chances were, she wouldn't be able to take them outside, and she certainly would be burdened by their presence if she got beyond the facility's walls.

So, when her father urged her out of the corridor one day after he'd finished off with the facility's latest supplied human woman, she let him take her there.

He took her down a long corridor to a room that had windows to the outside, which surprised her. "They're so strong, even Riki can't bust them!" her father told her as she looked at them, before sweeping her along to meet the three others in the room, two men and a woman. They looked completely normal, though Aya knew that the two males had to be the non-humans, because her father had used male pronouns when talking about the two. One was a beefy male with straight hair, the other a slightly older male with slightly curlier hair. Aya was willing to bet that Mr. Beefy was the Franken.

"This is Megumi," her father said, and Aya absently noted that he didn't bother to use a honorific at all. Maybe he felt he didn't need one. "Jiro fathered her on a human woman."

Aya made a mental note to ask for Megumi-san's mother's name; it apparently wasn't important to her father. "Hi," Aya said, smiling. "Shinoda Aya."

"Aso Megumi," the woman introduced herself back. "I've heard a little bit about you - are you Shinoda Aya, the swimmer?"

"You must be a sports fan - I haven't swum competitively in two years, ever since I learned I was Merman," Aya said, realizing that just a few weeks before, she would have said "half Merman" or "of Merman ancestry". Listening to her father, Kuramae-san, and everybody else in the facility call her a Merman must have rubbed off. Of course, with her gills, she probably was more Merman than human now. She was going to have to start calling herself a Merman after all. A new Merman, if the Fangaire and humans of this world had their way. Or at least the staff of the research facility.

"I have an interest," the woman said casually, and at that moment, the named clicked.

"Aso Megumi, the model?" Aya asked. She could hardly believe it - she and the others were nobodies, but Aso Megumi was a fairly well-known model, and the disappearance of herself and the people around her had to have garnered some attention.

Aso-san nodded. "Just call me Megumi, since we're not going anywhere at the moment."

"Then you can call me Aya," Aya responded.

"You stopped swimming?" her father butted in, wide-eyed. Of course, the last time they'd seen each other she had still been swimming competitively.

"Competitively, because Merman blood was an unfair advantage," Aya said. The man near Megumi snorted.

"And this is Jiro, he's a Wolfen," her father said, indicating the man who had snorted. His reaction made sense; from what she knew of the Wolfen, they were primal creatures, ruled by emotion. They wouldn't 'get' not using one's natural advantages.

"She still acts human," Jiro said to her father, not bothering to greet her. "Can't you do anything about that?"

"Hu-ma-n Bl-oo-d," the third man, who had to be the captive Franken, said. She didn't know if he meant it pejoratively, or was just commenting on the situation.

Her father smiled at the other man. "And this is Riki, he's a Franken," her father said cheerfully. "He can break anything! Except the windows."

Riki solemnly regarded her, and she had to wonder if he found her interesting, or if the Franken were just slow thinkers as Kuramae-san had said. Maybe he liked her. There were probably a lot of far worse things than having a Franken like one. "Riki watches out for me," her father confided.

The Franken reached out a beefy hand and mussed her father's hair, smiling a little. "Dau-gh-ter." He then reached out and mussed Aya's hair too. Aya didn't protest, figuring it was a sign of affection.

"He likes you," her father translated.

Aya couldn't help but smile back. "I like him, too." She hoped that the Franken wouldn't find it offensive that she hadn't said it directly to him. Or if he did, it would be several hours later, when she wasn't in the same room with him.

Riki patted her on the head. "Gi-ill-s," he said, making a slow motion at her neck.

"Isn't it great?" her father asked in the general direction of Riki.

Neither she nor Riki had a chance to answer as the door slid open to reveal Kuramae-san, who stepped forward with a smile. She wondered if he'd come in to congratulate her on her ability to communicate with Riki. A movement caught her attention from the corner of her eye, and she turned to see Megumi step back tentatively, and her father Jiro step forward aggressively, as if to protect his daughter. Heck, he was clearly and plainly protecting his daughter.

"Kiva sealed you," Megumi said, clearly having met somebody that looked an awful lot like Kuramae-san before. And from her reaction, Aya had no doubt that Kuramae-san's lookalike had caused a lot of problems. Megumi came up beside her father, as if ready to go into battle.

"Huh?" Kuramae-san asked.

Jiro - she couldn't attach a honorific to him at the moment - snarled at Kuramae-san, who apparently decided that provoking a Wolfen for whatever reason was not a bright idea, and retreated through the door, slamming it closed.

"What happened there?" Aya wondered out loud.

Riki ambled over to the door and tried to open it, but it responded neither to his strength or a simple keying of the door lock, which meant that Kuramae-san must have entered some sort of command to keep them in there.

Megumi moved up to her, stepping out of the light from the window that had been behind her. "I met him... or someone who looked just like him. A Fangaire who kidnapped me."

No wonder why Megumi had acted that way, why her father had reacted that way too. Wolfen protected their kids, fullblooded or not. Megumi had probably told her father about Kuramae-san's doppelganger. And if said double was a Fangaire, so Kuramae-san could be one too.

Her mind flashed back to when she'd first arrived and woken up, and Kuramae-san had come in. She'd hit him as hard as she could, and it barely affected him.

Next time she saw him, she'd have to ask. But she suspected she knew the answer.

"I'm sorry," she said, as if to excuse her Kuramae-san. Based on what she knew of the Fangaire in this world, he was probably harmless, unlike his counterpart in theirs.

Riki moved back from the door, standing near herself and Megumi, obscuring her view of the door - and probably, the view of anyone from that door way to her. "Fan - gai - re," he rumbled.

"We'll have to be careful," her father said, coming up next to her and putting a hand on her arm. "She's been seeing him since I got here."

"We were dating before he... brought me here," Aya explained. They hadn't been, but she was sure the room was being monitored and she thought she should keep up that fiction.

"But we might be able to use him," her father said. "If he's in love with her."

"I've told you, I can't do that to Kuramae-san," she said. "Even if he is a Fangaire. Even if he is this world's version of the person who kidnapped Megumi. The Fangaire seem a lot less threatening here. And I'm speaking as the person he kidnapped to bring me here, too."

"Ba-ad," Riki intoned. Aya had to wonder if Kuramae-san had interacted with Riki, and if he dared to do so after this incident. Probably not. Even a Fangaire would have problems with a furious Franken.

"He's still one of the people holding us captive," her father pointed out.

"He's obviously got a hold on her," Jiro said, not relaxing his guard one bit. "I can smell him all over her."

"Aya," her father said, "Have you been... *mating* with him?"

His look of horror made her want to laugh and lie, but she restrained herself. "No," she said. "Not before, and certainly not when I got here. Why would I do that? I haven't wanted kids since I found out what I was."

Aya's father nodded. "Well, you *are* a Okoi-hatsuoki," he said. "And you hadn't gone into heat when I saw you before."

"We've been spending time together because he's the one that listens to me," Aya said. "He likes me, and I like him, and I don't believe he's the same person as the one that kidnapped Megumi."

Jiro rolled his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

A half an hour to an hour after the incident with Kuramae-san and the others, they were finally allowed to return to their corridors, though the doctors promised that if they behaved themselves, they would be allowed to continue to associate.

Aya slipped into her room, finally glad to be out of there. She blinked as she turned up the lights in the dark room registered that she wasn't alone. "Kuramae-san, are you all right?"

He smiled at her. It was a weak smile, but a smile none the less. "Sorry about the abrupt departure. I just didn't want to deal with a Wolfen that was enraged and protective."

"Kuramae-san, are you a Fangaire?" she asked. She had to know, though she had guessed that he had to be. His mirror was, and he had withstood her punches.

"I am," he affirmed. He blinked at her. "I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, but I thought it might be easier on you if you thought I was human. And then... well, I got used to pretending I was. Maybe I did want to be your human friend instead of yet another Fangaire studying you."

"I didn't think a Fangaire would run from a Wolfen," she admitted. "Were you trying to hide what you were even then?"

"Well," Kuramae-san admitted, "That and the fact that I'm a Sheep Fangaire; we're not exactly fighters. Dr. Hamagaki can fight, I really can't. I'm really good at running, though."

Aya raised her eyebrows. "And you were going to protect me in case some psychopath burst onto the grounds and tried to abduct me?"

Kuramae-san shrugged. "For one, you're pretty well protected before anybody ever got to you, even if we were out on the grounds. There's a pretty substantial fence there, and it's monitored. It's meant to stop, or at least slow down, a Franken, much less a human. And secondly, I could protect you from a human. I'm just not up to fighting Wolfen."

"Kuramae-san," Aya said, hoping that she wasn't making an error, "Are you sure you should have told me about the fence?"

"I presumed you would have guessed that we have good security precautions that would include a fence," he admitted. "The Wolfen - Jiro - pretty much had guessed that part. Since you're smart, I would have assumed you did too."

"Well, I did," Aya said, "But I didn't expect you to confirm it to me!"

Kuramae-san's smile became more genuine. "You wouldn't be stupid enough to try to escape." He paused. "Shinoda-san, is it okay if you call me Noboru? And can I call you Aya? I miss calling you Aya."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Aya said. She quickly located her father; he was in his room, so he couldn't hear their conversation. She considered doing it to annoy her father, but too much was at stake. "I don't want my father after you like Megumi's father is likely to be, and I'm not sure Riki-san won't go after you if you've pissed off my father. I think he already thinks we're sleeping with each other. My Dad, that is. I don't want you to lose your job because the one Franken wants to kill you."

Kuramae-san laughed. "I guess I have been touching you a lot," he said. "But maybe privately, when we're outside and I don't have to worry about them overhearing?"

"I... can live with that," she said. Anything to help her escape. And if it came down to sleeping with Kuramae-san... she'd live if it got her the freedom she craved.

"I'd reassure them that I'm not sleeping with you and wouldn't - professional reasons and Fangaire taboos - but I don't think they'd believe me," Kuramae-san said.

"Taboos?" Aya asked, interested, and perhaps relieved that she wouldn't have to trade sex for freedom. "Is this a secret taboo or...."

Kuramae-san grinned wider. "They're hardly a secret," he said. "If you can't find the information on the Internet, let me know and I'll find you a book or two on the subject. In the meantime, I can assure you and the others that I have no designs on you. Or Aso-san."

"What happened back there anyway?" Aya asked. "I feel like I'm missing the whole picture?"

"I'm guessing, from what the room monitors picked up," Kuramae-san said, "That there was a version of me on your world, he was fairly nasty, and he did something bad to Aso-san. There's a fair amount of duplication between your world and ours - a version of Aso-san and her father exist on our world, albeit as distant descendants of Wolfen, and the Fandiri we recovered is an effective double of the Executioner's apprentice - albeit one that was apparently raised by a Fangaire and not a human. Not much I can do except apologize and stay away from the Wolfen."

"Guess not," Aya said. It made sense. "Speaking of overhearing things - and I know this is asking a lot - but could you talk to Dr. Hamagaki about turning the monitors in my room off? It didn't used to bother me, but with my father's complete disregard of my privacy, I'd like to think I have *some*."

"I don't think so," Kuramae-san said. "But I can ask Dr. Hamagaki. If she thinks it's a good thing, then she will. She does like you, you know. It's just that she has to protect you as well."

Aya smiled weakly. "Thank you," she said.

* * *

t had been a good two weeks for Aya, full of quiet days interrupted by Dr. Hamagaki trying the latest treatment on Aya, which was gradual energy drain and then feeding the energy back to her system, and seeing the results. From what Dr. Hamagaki had said, what they really needed was to infuse her with Merman energy, not Fangaire. "You're not a Fandiri," Dr. Hamagaki had said, sounding amused.

The Fangaire doctor was planning to explain it to her father in the morning, who might or might not take it well. Aya hoped he'd have an objection to the Fangaire using him, so she didn't have to take that step towards living a few centuries.

At least Aya had gotten to go outside. She called Kuramae-san "Noboru" and he called her "Aya". Perhaps because the researchers trusted her so much, he got permission to show her the fence. It was decorative, yet definitely a security fence; Kuramae-san had let her see that she couldn't climb it, the holes being too narrow for her fingers, and how it was bound onto the poles so that Riki-san wouldn't be able to push his way through it. She, in return, promised not to tell the others about the fence. They had such a good time, she'd forgotten to ask him about turning the monitors off in her room.

Which was pretty amazing, given that she'd been interacting with them. Jiro-san was a man of few, but sharp words. His daughter Megumi was nice, and Aya hoped one day to get her out of the research facility too. Riki-san acted like she was a favorite niece; he treated her father like he was a mischievous younger brother.

There could be things far worse than having a Franken like her, she figured, even though she hoped he'd never get out of the facility. He and her father and Jiro-san were all too dangerous, and she understood that as well as the researchers did.

"Aya! Wake up!" her father was off to her left, and was shaking her. She opened her eyes and focused on the clock that had come from her apartment.

"Father, it's midnight, and I need my sleep," she said. "Some of us still do." She closed her eyes, willing him to go away so she could go back to sleep.

"But Jiro said we should all meet in the common room," her father insisted.

"Jiro-san doesn't need sleep either," she muttered. "Do whatever it is without me."

Her father was silent for a minute, and then she felt a arm around her waist, over the covers, and he started tugging her out of bed. Obviously, it was either walk or be dragged there, covers and all.

She reluctantly got out of bed, slipping her facility-provided shoes on, and plodded after him through the corridors into the common room. Not surprisingly, Jiro-san and Riki-san were there, as was Megumi, who looked about as awake as she did. Well, maybe more, since her father had probably woken her up first.

"We're leaving," Jiro-san said once they'd gathered, and she wondered if he realized the common room, like most of the areas they moved about it, was monitored. "Now."

A useless escape attempt. Great. "Leave without me," she said. "I'm not going." She thought of how fast they were going to be caught, and how they needed to be caught, and at least she could slow them down if they insisted on it, though Riki-san behind her was likely capable of carrying her.

"Aya," her father said, pleadingly, while Jiro-san looked annoyed. "We can't stay out here forever, and I need you."

Jiro rolled his eyes, and made a hand movement. She was hit heavily from behind.

* * *

Aya woke up when she splashed into what felt like a pond. Maybe a lake. She would have instinctively swum up, but something landed on top of her, squashing her onto the floor of the large pond or small lake. Probably some artificial lake, she figured. Her gills flared into action, drawing in the oxygen from the water. After spending so much time in the salt water, she couldn't say she liked the fresh, but it probably did her some good anyway. Wet was better for her skin.

After what seemed like forever, the pressure let up, and she was able to swim to the surface. The first thing she noticed when she looked was Riki-san. The Franken smiled at her and reached out as if to help her out of the water and onto the dry land. "Es-cape-d."

She accepted the hand, and was pulled effortlessly out of the water. As she sat down on dry land, she got to see the third person - being - there. As much as she'd seen drawings of the Mermen, it was fascinating to see the real thing - had that real thing not been dangerous to the world at large. Of course, Riki-san was too.

The green form shimmered back into her father. "See? We got out of there. And you should have seen Riki; he pretty much ripped that fence apart. And Jiro figured out how to disable to security on the doors."

Aya winced about the fence, and then remembered she technically had never seen it. "I see I came along too."

"Jiro and Riki and I agreed that we were all going, or none of us was going," her father said. "Besides, our tribe needs its Okoi-hatsuoki. Plus, you were in love with a Fangaire."

"I was not in love with Kuramae-san, I just dated him," Aya said defensively. Technically, that was before she knew what he was, and for that matter, before he abducted her into his world. "And that was before he kidnapped me."

"No," her father corrected, "You were in love with the Fangaire. I had to get you out of there."

"Ba-ad," Riki-san opined.

"And besides, I was trying to convince them that we deserved our freedom by cooperating with them and letting them see that we were suffering in captivity, and you guys ruined that," Aya said. She thought it best not to tell them that barring that, she had been planning to escape and hopefully take Megumi with her, letting the Fangaire keep humanity safe from the three fullbloods.

"Hey, now we're not suffering," her father said cheerfully, totally missing the point.

"F-ree," Riki-san added.

"No, now we have no money, the Fangaire are certain to be after us, and if they capture us, we'll never see the ocean again," Aya said. "I can't stand having just that tiny pool again."

"You won't have to," her father said, "Because we won't go back again. Riki won't let them take us back."

"Pro-tect," Riki-san said meaningfully.

"We'll find a place on the coast, you and me and Riki, and we'll raise a new tribe," her father said. "You can find them for us, after they're born and we can take them away."

"Wouldn't it be safer if we just tried getting back to our own world?" Aya asked, thinking of new ways that the Fangaire could recapture them. "I have family back there, even if you two don't. And there are no Fangaire there intent on capturing us."

"Well, I have another child that I fathered," her father said, "But he's just a baby, we'll go back for him someday and make him part of the tribe. And Riki has a daughter too, she's your age. We'll go back for her, too."

Aya felt relief that she'd managed to save two people from the nightmare she was in by sheer ignorance. As it was, she was alone, she was more non-human than ever, and she was likely to be forced to help remake a species that killed humans.

If she hadn't had a purpose, a desire to make the Merman Clan in a way that she wanted, she probably would have felt empty. Someday, she'd get away from her father and Riki, find the babies, remake what was now her kind.

"A-ge ra-pid-ly," Riki said, looking at her.

"We still have to fix your aging, too," her father said. "And your siblings' aging. And Riki's daughter's."

"I have an idea on that," Aya said, "But first... I think we should get as far away from the research complex as possible. The closer we are, the easier it is for them to find us. Besides, my mixed blood makes me more salt water dependent." She looked around, finally realizing who was missing. "And where are Jiro-san and Megumi, anyway?"

"O-th-er wa-ay," Riki contributed.

"Jiro said that it was better if we split off, so he and Megumi went into the woods," her father said. "You and I and Riki could hide out in the water."

"And we still need to get out of here," she said. "I still think this is a mistake, but now that we're out, we might as well stay out." Well, she would, at least, and continue to prod the other two to try to make it to the dimensional gate and get recaptured.

Riki nodded. Her father smiled, stood up, and reached his hand out to her.

She took it.

* * *

At last, they were at the coast, after several days of travel. She, her father, and Riki-san had originally taken human roads, but they'd had to abandon them early on, after Aya had seen the video showing their faces and telling people that there was a reward for information on finding them, but not to grab them themselves because of the risks involved. She was listed as especially vulnerable because of her salt water dependence. She could see an Onsen owner eye her speculatively, and that had been when they'd gotten out of there. She was sure that at least he had probably reported a sighting of them, and possibly others had too. Riki-san had destroyed their 'bracelets' at least, so they couldn't be tracked that way.

In the evenings, before she bedded down to sleep, she told her father some of the Merman folk tales she'd memorized, as well as what Dr. Hamagaki had told her about what she needed to stop aging - at least quite as 'fast' as she did. After one set of folktales, her father had cheerfully said something about "That's it!", but refused to elaborate until they got to the ocean.

She bit into a radish her father had stolen. Her father was very good at that, actually, stealing things. Had they not been so likely to be spotted and captured, and had she not needed salt water to survive, the three of them could have probably settled down in a town.

And her father and Riki-san could have killed the villagers. She shuddered. Maybe it was best that they lived in the wild.

Her father and Riki were working on a shelter. One of three, actually, her father had said. One large shelter for the tribe, one shelter for her as a Okoi-hatsuoki, and one for Riki-san. They'd expand as needed. There was plenty of room to grow their 'tribe'. Maybe if the Fangaire came to their senses - or maybe if the Fangaire didn't come to their senses but she was able to start a new tribe in peace anyway - this would become land given to them to establish a home. The Fangaire probably owed them that anyway.

In the meantime, she'd be sleeping under the stars and the open sky. At least it was good weather at the moment. And there was always the possibility that they would still be found. The scientists knew how Merman and Franken bodies worked, and they certainly knew of her dependency. And they were smart, and it stood to reason that the three of them would head for the coast. All the scientists and researchers had to do was figure out their speed, and they'd know where to search.

Maybe it was best if they moved, but at least she would have a shelter, a temporary one. The one they were making was rather like a lean-to; not much privacy, but at least some shelter. She was torn between reminding them that they'd all have to move on, or just being ready to jump into the ocean if someone came to take them back.

Maybe she should dive into the water anyway, but she wanted to hear her father and Riki-san make plans. She could always find a fisherman who was willing to play informant. That way, the two of them would be caught and humans would be safe again.

At least here, she was free. Her father couldn't hold her, he wasn't as good as she was when it came to finding each other. Yes, she was a Okoi-hatsuoki, and she would found a new family, a new tribe, a new whatever. Eventually the Fangaire would cooperate. She knew how to act with them.

Her father and Riki finished off the shelter. "We probably are going to have to move eventually," she said, knowing that she was probably negating some of her dreams to get them recaptured, but worth it to seem like she was being helpful. "By the way, father, you had an idea two nights ago, when I was telling you those legends?"

Beaming, her father said, "I know how to fix your aging. I think the Fangaire was right. Kinda."

"Oh, okay?" she asked, disappointed that he'd approved of the idea.

With a big grin, he explained it to her. And she shuddered at what they were going to have to do. But she didn't say anything other than, "It was a Fangaire's idea and you're going along with it?"

"The Fangaire are smart," her father said. "And sometimes they're right."

She shivered once again. "And if they're wrong?"

"I don't think they are," her father said.

"I hope so," she replied. And at least if he screwed it up, maybe some human would find them, report them, and then Dr. Hamagaki and Kuramae-san would save her.

* * *

A few days later, they'd had to run again, most likely reported by a fisherman who had noticed her in the morning sun and shouted at her, asking if she was the missing person that the Fangaire had been broadcasting about. At least he hadn't tried to approach them. She had warned her father and Riki-san about the humans that Kuramae-san had warned her about, and so they both knew about the threat to their family.

And they still hadn't seen Jiro-san and Megumi, not that it seemed to bother her father or Riki-san. They seemed to be caught up in their plans for a joint Merman-Franken mini-civilization. Or at least her father was; Riki didn't always seem like the sharpest tool in the shed, though he was faster and brighter than Kuramae-san had given him credit for.

She felt lucky that neither of the other two slept; her father's keen eyes had caught the group come to capture them, and woken her up. She'd not tried to go back to sleep this time, all too aware of the danger she was in, and very not ready to go back to captivity. They'd slipped out in some confusion and gone south, following the ocean, a new camp a bit above the water, on a cliff. Safer this time, or so her father had said. Two shelters had gone up this time, one for herself and one for Riki-san, once they were sure they were relatively invisible from the coastline.

Three nights after they'd established their current camp, her father had implemented his variation of Dr. Hamagaki's plan. It had been uncomfortable and freaky and it scared her that they'd have to do this to every single child. She'd probably have to do it, too, she'd probably be expected to do it. They didn't know how well it worked to slow down her aging for a while, but she hadn't felt the need to sleep for a week.

She knew that she couldn't go back to her life before, her father and Dr. Hamagaki and Kuramae-san had seen to that. She was still human, would always in some way be human, but she wasn't going to be a city-dweller anymore, not with her dependence on the ocean. But she still wasn't her father's daughter, and she wasn't the Fangaires' pawn. She was a Merman Okoi-hatsuoki, and she had a civilization to re-establish, without depending on others. Or depending on them as little as possible.

Apart from the ocean, nothing was constant. Everything seemed to be changing, as she herself was changing. The ways of the Merman Clan of old would be gone someday if she had a choice. And she wanted to shape her new kind into a true new kind.

And once she realized that, she realized that she couldn't do it hanging around Riki-san and her father, who were tied to the old ways. She also couldn't sit there and let the Fangaire recapture her, for even the most sympathetic would have questions as to why she hadn't run back to their arms. If she was to make the new life she wanted, she had to leave, had to make that new life that she wanted to make.

With that in mind, she stripped off her clothes. Human clothes, hopefully not needed anymore. Ties to the land. Ties, in many ways, to the past.

And then she waded into the ocean, into the welcoming waves, the welcoming wet. Once there, she didn't look back.

-End


End file.
